Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-10-01
The Reason WHY Some Husbands are
Ouirt and Sedate.

The admixtnre Of different tenn
pers among the brothers aud sis
tcrS of the same family is a notable
fact due to various causes which
act in different directions. 1t is
best to consider them before We
proceed to collect evidence and at.
tempt its Interpretation. 1t is clear
enough, and may be taken for
granted, that the temperS of pro-
eonitors do not readily blend i'll the
Offspring, but that some of the
children take mainly after one of
them. some after another, butw with
a few threads, as it were. is various
ancestral temperS woven in, which
occasionally manifest themselves.
1t no other influences interviewed,
the ienlpers of the children in the
same family would on this account
i,a almost AS varied as those of
their ancestors. who married at
haphazar.l, so far as their temrers
were concerned: therefore the num-
bcrs of good or bad children in
families would be regulated by the
same laws of chance that only apply
to gambling table. But there
are other influences to be consid-
cred. There is q we'll known ten
dency to family likeness among
brothers and sisters which Is nor
due TO the blending OF ancestral
pe..rliaritieS, but to the prepotcnce
Of one of the progenitors, Who has
stamped more than his fair share OF
qualities upon the children. II
ina, also he due to IL familiar &C.
currence that deserves but has not
yet received a distinctive name
namely, where all the children are
alike and yet their common like
ness can not be traced to their pro
genitors. A new variety has come
into existence through q process
not of individuals, but of "cotra
ternaln variation. The most strong
~ marked family type that | have
personally met with first arose
simultaneously in the three broth
erS OF a family who transmitted
their peculialities with unusual te-
liacity to numerous descendants
through at least two generations.
Other influences act in antagonism
to tue foregoing; they are the
events OF domestic life, which i'll
stead Of assimilating tempers tend
10 acceniuate slight differences in
them. Thus if some members of a
family are a little submissive by
nature, others WHO are naturally Il
little tlomineering are tempted to
become more SO. Then the ac-
CURED habit of dictation in the re-
acts upon the others and makes
them still more submissive. In
the collection | made of histories
CT twins who we've closely alike, the
statement was constantly met With
that one of the twins was guided
Jy he other. suppose that after
their many childish struggles for
supremacy, each finally discovered
his own relative strength OF char
acicr, and tIencefortll the stronger
Developed into the leader, while
the weaker contcntedly subsided
into the position Of being led
Again, it is sometimes observed
that IL member of an easy going
iamIly discovers that lie OF she may
exercise considerable power by
adopting the habit Of being per.
sSteu.ly disag1eeable whenever he
or she does not get the first and
lest Of everything. Some wives
try 10 tyrannlze over husbands who
are mild and sensitive, who hate
family scenes and dread the dis
grace attending them, by holding
themselves i'll readiness to lily into
passion whenever their wishes
are witilstood. They thus acquire
a habit of "breaking out,' to use a
term familiar to the warders Of IL
III lie prisons and lunatlc asyluns,
and though their relatives and con-
llcctions would describe Their tenn
,pers and by severe epithetS, yet ii
they had married masterful hus-
bands their characters might have
developed more fayorably.